Pushpalata Das

2021-10-05T10:39:31Z

2409:4065:E03:D1BB:BD50:8F4:A362:A2DF:

{{Use Indian English|date=June 2016}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2016}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Pushpalata Das
| image =
| imagesize =
| caption =
| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1915|03|27}}
| birth_place = [[North Lakhimpur]], [[Assam]], India
| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|2003|11|09|1915|03|27}}
| death_place = [[Kolkata]], [[West Bengal]], India
| restingplace =
| restingplacecoordinates =
| othername =
| occupation = [[Indian independence activist]] Social worker
| yearsactive = 1940–2003
| known for =
| spouse = [[Omeo Kumar Das]]
| domesticpartner =
| children = 1 daughter
| parents = Rameswar Saikia Swarnalata
| movement =
| organization = Banar Sena [[Kasturba Gandhi National Memorial Trust]]
| website =
| awards = [[Padma Bhushan]] Tamrapatra Freedom Fighter Award
}}
'''Pushpalata Das''' (1915–2003) was an [[Indian independence activist]], social worker, [[Gandhian]] and legislator from the north-east Indian state of [[Assam]].<ref name="Pushpa Lata Das (1951-2003)">{{cite web | url=http://www.indiaonline.in/about/Personalities/Freedom-Fighters/Pushpa-Lata-Das.html | title=Pushpa Lata Das (1951-2003) | publisher=India Online | date=2016 | access-date=26 May 2016}}</ref> She was a member of [[Rajya Sabha]] from 1951 to 1961, a member of the [[Assam Legislative Assembly]] and a member of the [[Congress Working Committee|working committee]] of the [[Indian National Congress]].<ref name="Pushpalata’s memories live on">{{cite web | url=http://www.telegraphindia.com/1031121/asp/guwahati/story_2594467.asp | title=Pushpalata’s memories live on | publisher=The Telegraph | date=21 November 2003 | access-date=26 May 2016}}</ref> She served as the chairperson of the Assam chapters of the [[Kasturba Gandhi National Memorial Trust]] and [[Khadi and Village Industries Commission]].<ref name="Puspa Lata Das Biography">{{cite web | url=http://www.mapsofindia.com/who-is-who/history/puspa-lata-das.html | title=Puspa Lata Das Biography | publisher=Maps of India | date=2016 | access-date=26 May 2016}}</ref> The Government of India awarded her the third highest civilian honour of the [[Padma Bhushan]], in 1999, for her contributions to society.<ref name="Padma Awards">{{cite web | url=http://mha.nic.in/sites/upload_files/mha/files/LST-PDAWD-2013.pdf | title=Padma Awards | publisher=Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India | date=2016 | access-date=3 January 2016}}</ref>

==Early life==
[[File:Kanaklata Udyan, Tezpur.jpg|thumb|235px|A sculpture at Kanaklata Udyan showing the police shooting of 1942]]
Born on 27 March 1915<ref name="Pathak2008">{{cite book|author=Guptajit Pathak|title=Assamese Women in Indian Independence Movement: With a Special Emphasis on Kanaklata Barua|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6igd9NaJFlUC&pg=PA118|year=2008|publisher=Mittal Publications|isbn=978-81-8324-233-2|pages=118–}}</ref> to Rameswar Saikia and Swarnalata in [[North Lakhimpur]] in [[Assam]], Das did her schooling at Panbazar Girls High School.<ref name="Pushpa Lata Das (1951-2003)" /> She started her political activities from school days and was the secretary of an organization by name, '' Mukti Sangha''. In 1931, she and her comrades organized a protest against the hanging of the revolutionary, [[Bhagat Singh]] by the [[British Raj]] and was expelled from school. She continued her studies as a private student and passed the matriculation examination in 1934, after which she joined [[Benaras Hindu University]] to complete her intermediate course. Later, she graduated from [[Andhra University]] and secured post-graduate degree from the same university in 1938. Subsequently, she enrolled herself for studies in Law at Earle Law College, Guwahati where continued her student politics; she was the secretary of the college union in 1940. It was during this time, [[Gandhiji]] called for ''Individual [[Satyagraha]]'', as a part of [[civil disobedience movement]] and as a precursor to the [[Quit India Movement]] which would be launched two years later,<ref name="Individual Satyagraha 1940-41">{{cite web | url=http://www.gktoday.in/individual-satyagraha-1940-41/ | title=Individual Satyagraha 1940-41 | publisher=GK Today | date=2016 | access-date=26 May 2016}}</ref> and Das participated in the movement. She was incarcerated which effectively cut short her law studies.<ref name="Pushpa Lata Das (1951-2003)" />

==Political life==
Due to her association with the National Planning Committee as a member of its Women Sub Committee, Das moved to Mumbai that year and stayed there for two years. Her activities gave her opportunities to work alongside [[Mridula Sarabhai]] and [[Vijaya Laxmi Pandit]] as well as [[Omeo Kumar Das]], then sitting member of the [[Assam Legislative Assembly]],<ref name="Lokanayak Omeo Okumar Das">{{cite web | url=http://www.freeindia.org/dynamic/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=524 | title=Lokanayak Omeo Okumar Das | publisher=Free India | date=2016 | access-date=26 May 2016 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160421190350/http://freeindia.org/dynamic/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=524 | archive-date=21 April 2016 | url-status=dead }}</ref> whom she married in 1942. She returned to Assam after her marriage and formed two organizations, ''Shanti Bahini'' and ''Mrityu Bahini''.<ref name="Freedom Struggle in Assam">{{cite web | url=http://pib.nic.in/feature/feyr98/fe0898/f0308985.html | title=Freedom Struggle in Assam | publisher=Press Information Bureau, Government of India | date=2016 | access-date=27 May 2016}}</ref> In September 1942, Das and her comrades of ''Mrityu Bahini'' led a protest to the local police station holding the [[National Flag of India]] and it was at this procession, the police opened fire which led to the death of her colleague, [[Kanaklata Barua]].<ref name="Pathak2008-2">{{cite book|author=Guptajit Pathak|title=Assamese Women in Indian Independence Movement: With a Special Emphasis on Kanaklata Barua|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6igd9NaJFlUC&pg=PA52|year=2008|publisher=Mittal Publications|isbn=978-81-8324-233-2|pages=52–}}</ref> By that time, she had already become a member of the [[All India Congress Committee]] and the convener of the women’s wing of the Assam Congress Committee and reportedly worked to get Assam out of the grouping with [[East Pakistan]].<ref name="Pushpa Lata Das (1951-2003)" />

After the Indian independence in 1947, Das couple focused their activities in [[Dhekiajuli]] in Assam which Omeo Kumar Das represented in Assam Legistalive Assembly for successive terms from 1951 to 1967.<ref name="List of Winning MLA's from Dhekiajuli Till Date">{{cite web | url=http://www.mapsofindia.com/assemblypolls/assam/dhekiajuli-assembly-constituency.html | title=List of Winning MLA's from Dhekiajuli Till Date | publisher=Maps of India | date=2016 | access-date=27 May 2016}}</ref> Pushpalata Das herself was nominated to the [[Rajya Sabha]] in 1951 and held the position 1961.<ref name="Puspa Lata Das – Freedom Fighter of India">{{cite web | url=http://www.indian-gk.in/freedom_fighters/puspa-lata-das-freedom-fighter-of-india/ | title=Puspa Lata Das – Freedom Fighter of India | publisher=Indian GK | date=2016 | access-date=27 May 2016}}</ref> It was during this period she led the 1957 election campaign of [[Chandraprava Saikiani]] from Bajali constituency.<ref name="Baragohāñi1999">{{cite book|author=Nirupamā Baragohāñi|title=One Life Many Rivers|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cCS3E11jeR0C&pg=PT156|year=1999|publisher=Sahitya Akademi|isbn=978-81-260-0688-5|pages=156–}}</ref> Later, she was elected to the [[Congress Working Committee]] in 1958 and the next year, she visited a number of East European countries as a member of the parliamentary delegation. In 1967, she contested from [[Dhekiajuli]] when her husband vacated the constituency, winning the election representing [[Indian National Congress]]<ref name="Assam Legislative Assembly - MLA 1967-72">{{cite web | url=http://assamassembly.gov.in/mla-1967-72.html | title=Assam Legislative Assembly - MLA 1967-72 | publisher=Assam Legislative Assembly | date=2016 | access-date=27 May 2016}}</ref> and repeated the success in 1971.<ref name="List of Winning MLA's from Dhekiajuli Till Date" /> After the death of her husband on 23 January 1975,<ref name="Lokanayak Omeo Okumar Das" /> Das withdrew from parliamentary politics, concentrating for more social service.<ref name="Das2013">{{cite book|author=Samir Kumar Das|title=Governing India's Northeast: Essays on Insurgency, Development and the Culture of Peace|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hSFGAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA36|date=4 June 2013|publisher=Springer Science & Business Media|isbn=978-81-322-1146-4|pages=36–}}</ref> She served as the chairperson of the Assam chapter of the All India Khadi Board and chaired the state boards of Bhudan and Gramdan initiatives.<ref name="Puspa Lata Das – Freedom Fighter of India" /> She was also associated with the Central Social Welfare Board and served as a member of the women's section of the Congress Planning Committee and the East India wing of the [[Censor Board of India]]. She edited the Assamese magazine, ''Jayanti'' and headed the Assam branch of the [[Kasturba Gandhi National Memorial Trust]] for a certain period of time.<ref name="Pushpa Lata Das (1951-2003)" /> She also published one book, ''Rajarama Sukla rashtriyaatma varcasva evam krtitva, san 1898-1962'', released in 1976.<ref name="Rajarama Sukla rashtriyaatma varcasva evam krtitva, san 1898-1962">{{cite book | title=Rajarama Sukla rashtriyaatma varcasva evam krtitva, san 1898-1962 | publisher=Durga Prakasana | author=Pushpalata Das | year=1976 | pages=359 | asin=B0000CR6XS}}</ref>

==Award and honours==
The Government of India honored her with ''Tamrapatra Freedom Fighter Award'' but she declined it saying she participated in the Indian freedom struggle without expecting returns.<ref name="Freedom Struggle in Assam" /> In 1999, the government awarded her the third highest civilian honor of the [[Padma Bhushan]].<ref name="Padma Awards" /> Towards the later days of her life, she suffered from age-related illnesses<ref name="Freedom fighter Pushpalata Das dead">{{cite web | url=http://zeenews.india.com/home/freedom-fighter-pushpalata-das-dead_130664.html | title=Freedom fighter Pushpalata Das dead | publisher=Zee News | date=9 November 2003 | access-date=27 May 2016}}</ref> and had to be moved to a Woodlands Nursing Home in Kolkata, where she died on 9 November 2003, at the age of 88, survived by her daughter, Nandini and her husband, Sasanka Dutta.<ref name="Freedom fighter Pushpalata Das passes away">{{cite web | url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/Freedom-fighter-Pushpalata-Das-passes-away/articleshow/275094.cms | title=Freedom fighter Pushpalata Das passes away | publisher=Times of India | date=10 November 2003 | access-date=27 May 2016}}</ref>

== See also ==
{{Div col|colwidth=30em}}
* [[Omeo Kumar Das]]
* [[North Lakhimpur]]
* [[Kanaklata Barua]]
* [[Mridula Sarabhai]]
* [[Chandraprava Saikiani]]
{{div col end}}
{{portal|India}}

== References ==
{{reflist|30em}}

== External links ==
* {{cite journal | url=http://ousar.lib.okayama-u.ac.jp/file/40928/oer_033_2_001_009.pdf | title=Role of Assamese Women in the Freedom Struggle of India | author=Rekha Rani Sarma Puzari, Kazumi Mazane | journal=岡山大学経済学会雑誌 | year=2001 | volume=33 | issue=2 | access-date=27 May 2016 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160604191040/http://ousar.lib.okayama-u.ac.jp/file/40928/oer_033_2_001_009.pdf | archive-date=4 June 2016 | url-status=dead }}

== Further reading ==
* {{cite book | title=Rajarama Sukla rashtriyaatma varcasva evam krtitva, san 1898-1962 | publisher=Durga Prakasana | author=Pushpalata Das | year=1976 | pages=359 | asin=B0000CR6XS}}

{{PadmaBhushanAwardRecipients 1990–99}}

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Das, Pushpalata}}
[[Category:Recipients of the Padma Bhushan in social work]]
[[Category:1915 births]]
[[Category:2003 deaths]]
[[Category:Journalists from Assam]]
[[Category:Indian independence activists from Assam]]
[[Category:Social workers]]
[[Category:Assamese-language writers]]
[[Category:Assamese people]]
[[Category:People from Lakhimpur district]]
[[Category:Banaras Hindu University alumni]]
[[Category:Andhra University alumni]]
[[Category:Gandhians]]
[[Category:Quit India Movement]]
[[Category:Members of the Assam Legislative Assembly]]
[[Category:Indian National Congress politicians from Assam]]
[[Category:Women members of the Assam Legislative Assembly]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian women politicians]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian politicians]]
[[Category:Women Indian independence activists]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian women writers]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian journalists]]
[[Category:Indian women editors]]
[[Category:Indian editors]]
[[Category:Women writers from Assam]]
[[Category:Social workers from Assam]]
[[Category:Women members of the Rajya Sabha]]
[[Category:Rajya Sabha members from Assam]]

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Pushpalata Das